MEMAKESTUFF.COM

Thursday, 17 February 2011

Well here we are, another drawing made using lyrics from a song. This time it's the glorious November Rain by the infamous Guns N' Roses.

This drawing has a simple composition but required a lot more planning as it contains a lot of words and not a lot of places to place these amazing lyrics without distracting from the feel I wanted it to have. Also some of the words were a tight squeeze. The challenge is knowing how to distribute the words and how to separate them so they hold there own when reading them or placing them in a specific area of the picture to add to the visual effect of the piece. A very important aspect for me is also trying to create depth or form with the words, not just putting them in in any way possible. Little things like around the girls hips, the words follow the contours of her body to show its round and not flat. The umbrella benefits from this also, having the words wrap around the sections and the words sizing varying according to the distance of each section to try and create some added depth. I added some quick colour to it also in the special version below.

The song appears on the 1991 album Use Your Illusion I.
An amazing song that is still loved by millions around the world. Axl Rose apparently had been working on this since 1983 trying to get it just right. An earlier version from 1986 can be heard here: (November Rain Demo 1986)

The lyrics and the video are based on a short story by Del James called Without You. The story is part of a collection called The Language Of Fear, which was brought back to market in 2008 after being out of print. The new version of the book contains an intro by Axl Rose, who wrote: "Del James has a personal knowledge of most of the situations he writes about, and has a love of the gutter from having been there." James contributed lyrics to 2 Guns N' Roses songs: The Garden and Yesterdays.